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Korean War Veteran awarded Purple Heart 60 years after being wounded

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Over 60 years ago Tennessee Korean War Veteran, Earl G. Taylor, was wounded on January 22, 1951 in the bitter cold winter while serving near the city of Taegu with the U.S. Army’s Second Infantry Division.

On November 4, 2013, he was awarded the Purple Heart Medal by Maj. Gen. Terry “Max” Haston, the Adjutant General of Tennessee, for wounds sustained in combat.

Taylor, a native of Wartrace, Tenn., served with the Tennessee National Guard in Shelbyville, from 1947 to 1949 until he entered the Active Army in 1950. On Christmas Eve of that year he arrived in Pusan, Korea, finding him and his fellow infantrymen fighting against the enemy invasion from Chinese and North Korean forces when incurring his wounds. Upon recovery, Taylor returned to combat serving with the 72nd Tank Battalion, part of the Second Infantry Division, until he completed his time in service and was reunited with his family at the end of the war.

Mr. Taylor was presented the award while accompanied by his wife Eleanor, nephew Don and his wife Joanne Taylor and various family and friends. “This is an opportunity for the nation to correct an administrative error, no matter how old the discrepancy,” said Maj. Gen. Haston, concerning the decades long oversight.